


What about Edward?

by traumaesistenziale



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Season/Series 05, about Edward the dog, about Edward the human, just momentary angst for like one second, not that much angst actually, season 5 episode 11, submarine mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 03:22:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18730705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traumaesistenziale/pseuds/traumaesistenziale
Summary: Set in episode 5x11, what if instead of "I'm gonna miss you", Oswald told his dog "I love you", and Edward responded to that, instead?"Oswald scoffed. Edward instinctively looked at him in the eyes for the first time, surprised and confused by that odd reaction. Was he hallucinating this? Had he not just confessed his feelings? Maybe Oswald heard wrong, but he doubted those words could be easy to equivocate in any way.«Ugh... I wasn't talking to y-» Oswald stopped in his tracks, the words died in his throat, and he mouthed wordlessly, frowning at first, staring back up at him, then his eyebrows shot up.A million thoughts were rushing through Ed's brain, bouncing around in his skull, and yet it felt like there were none at all, as he stared in confusion."





	What about Edward?

Just like that, now Oswald was walking away. Walking away _on him_. Like he really believed he could do that. Like he thought Ed would let him.

Edward ran to catch up with him and stepped in in his way to stop him.

«Dammit! Oswald, where are you going?!» he still struggled to believe this.

Oswald wouldn't be persuaded. No matter how much it hurt him to leave his friend and to give up what might be his only chance to change his life, he couldn't let go now. Not after all he had done, fighting over this city over and over again. If there was a time to actually fight _for_ it, it was now. He was too keenly aware that this would in all likelihood be the last time he would see Edward, but he wouldn't let himself be distracted by such thoughts. Edward was his own man, he was free and capable to make his own choices, just like Oswald was, and if their paths were destined to diverge now, he would have to make his peace with it. Although, deep down, he secretly still held this little piece of hope, fragile in his hands, that Edward would decide to stay, that he would remain by his side.

«This is my city and I'll be damned if I let those bastards take it!» he exclaimed.

«I cannot let you do this.» Oswald could see that Edward meant that, and he understood in that moment that he was probably in just as much pain as he was, at the idea of going their own separate ways, but no matter. He couldn't let him have this. This was too important. Oswald took a deep breath before speaking.

«You of all people should want to stop those monsters. They forced you to destroy Haven, to murder hundreds of innocent civilians. You are just gonna let them get away with it?»

«I was kind of planning on it, yes.»

Edward's answer surprised Oswald. It didn't surprise Ed, he knew this and he meant it. Oswald had been right to call this city a prison. Gotham had already taken so much from him, he wouldn't let her take even more. It hurt to realize that as her last act against him, Gotham was gonna deprive him of his only friend. Oswald looked disappointed. Ed didn't like that he of all people was looking at him like that. Why did it have to sting like that?

«Very well. I'm going to follow my heart.» Oswald proclaimed this almost solemnly. Edward struggled to contain a scoff. He would assume that Oswald would know better than to “follow his heart”, by now. Every time he had before, it had always ended up in tragedy. Look at where that had led them, for instance. They had only now begun to rebuild their relationship after all they had gone through, and put each other through, just because Oswald had been “following his heart”. Well, that wasn't fair blaming it all on him, was it? Edward had had his fair share of pain-inflicting in this scenario, all instances he had grown to regret, just as much as he knew Oswald regretted his own part in it.

«Oswald... You have been down this road before. Following your heart has never worked out for you.»

Oswald could have stood there and list all the occasions in which that statement could apply for hours, but he didn't have that kind of time, and he didn't want to concede a point. He knew what he was doing, even if he could understand why Edward could assume he wasn't, because it did sound a little insane to give up his only chance of escape to try and save a city-turned-hellhole and literal war-zone. He couldn't have afforded to concede a point, even if he had wanted to. He chose to show no hesitation, and instead, he would try to convince Edward one last time, or at least leave him imparting one last bit of wisdom.

«Perhaps. But perhaps you could learn something, if you listened to _this_...» he said, pointing his finger at Ed's heart, «...Instead of _this_.» he concluded, pointing at Ed's temple.

Edward was taken aback by this, he couldn't argue with that, but he couldn't agree either. He guessed there wasn't much else left to say, except for all the things that had always been left unsaid between them, and that would remain such. There was no other option. It was simply too late for that now, anyhow. He inhaled deeply, feeling his eyes start to fill up with tears. Goddammit, no, he wasn't going to cry in front of Oswald like this. He forced himself not to. He looked away.

Oswald looked away too. He looked down as he said those next words. Edward didn't think much of it, until he heard them.

«I'm gonna miss you Edward. I actually am really sorry to have to leave you like this... _I love you._ »

Edward's heart skipped a beat. He opened his mouth like he wanted to gasp, but no sound came out. He blinked twice, rapidly. Not even the tears could start falling now as if they too had been frozen in shock. He almost looked back at Oswald, but he could see in the corner of his eyes that Oswald wasn't looking at him either. He just assumed Oswald must have been feeling the same, because he felt like if he had looked into his eyes now, he would have broken down, and he could bear to do that now. He wanted to remain in one piece.

He swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, working to find the strength to reply to that.

« _I love you too._ »

Oswald scoffed. Edward instinctively looked at him in the eyes for the first time, surprised and confused by that odd reaction. Was he hallucinating this? Had he not just confessed his feelings? Maybe Oswald heard wrong, but he doubted those words could be easy to equivocate in any way.

«Ugh... I wasn't talking to y-» Oswald stopped in his tracks, the words died in his throat, and he mouthed wordlessly, frowning at first, staring back up at him, then his eyebrows shot up.

A million thoughts were rushing through Ed's brain, bouncing around in his skull, and yet it felt like there were none at all, as he stared in confusion.

Oswald's brain had not been doing a great job either, but it finally decided to collaborate, and helped him catch up with what had just happened. It was all so fast and unexpected it genuinely shook him to his core. After a moment of reflection, it was obvious what the mishap had been, just a little misunderstanding, nothing more, nothing to fret about, and in another circumstance he would have laughed about it, had it not been for the shock, but the implications of those words started to creep up on him, tickling, starting from the back of his skull, and his heart was beating so fast it was making it hard to breathe. Oh god, was he even breathing anymore? Was he having a heart attack? Because it sure felt like it.

Edward kept staring at him. Surely, by now he too had had time to figure out what had happened, and he must have been feeling pretty stupid too. Oswald told himself he'd better do something before the situation could get further out of hand.

And sure enough, Ed had indeed caught up, finally realizing that Oswald had been talking to the dog, sitting by his feet, who just happened to share his same name – how unfortunate. He did feel stupid and he cursed himself a hundred times over for not realizing this soon enough, before speaking, but now the damage was done. He couldn't take back his words, he couldn't pretend he didn't mean it, like it was a joke or something, at this point, he just had to own it. He cleared his throat and looked away, feeling a lump in his throat that wouldn't go down, no matter how much he tried to swallow it.

«Ed, I...» Oswald begun. Ed prepared himself for the worst.

There was no way Oswald felt the same way now, not after everything they had done to each other. He considered himself lucky enough that Oswald was still his friend, and he had to wonder where he would have been if that hadn't been the case-... oh, right. He would have been dead, literally. He felt the tears fill up his eyes again – those damned things, he thought he had chased them back in already, but nope, there they were again, back with a vengeance.

«Ed!» Oswald called him again, and Ed finally looked at him.

Oswald wanted him to look at him in the eyes. He needed to see it, the truth that had to exist behind those words, if it had been there, there was no better place to see it than in his eyes. It had to be in there, Oswald reasoned.

When their eyes met, Edward was surprised to see that Oswald's clear eyes reflected the state of his, regarding the tears situation. He was even more surprised when Oswald all of sudden let out a shaky, breathy, laugh, which came along with a smile and a look of disbelief.

Oswald couldn't contain himself. It was true, then. Edward's eyes couldn't lie.

It took Edward a moment longer to shake himself out of the chaos of all of his emotions, and realize what was truly happening. It was only when Oswald's hands were cupping his face that he let himself smile tentatively. He exhaled, he felt like he had been holding his breath.

Oswald's smile looked brighter than ever, his eyes sparkling with the tears that had accumulated there and only now begun to fall. But his face became serious all of sudden, and he pulled back, hastily cleaning up his eyes with the back of his hands.

Edward felt like the ground had been removed from under his feet, he wasn't sure how he was still standing. He couldn't comprehend what was happening now.

Oswald looked down and shook his head, letting out a quiet laugh. He looked up again and the smile was back on his face, but it looked different than before. From hopeful, it had turned tired and almost bitter.

«I'm going to go. I won't change my mind, Ed. This city needs me, and I need _her_. Gotham is part of me, I won't let her die.»

Edward stared at him, clenching and unclenching his fists by his sides. Oswald looked hurt, but resolute. Ed knew, now more than ever, that changing Oswald's mind would be impossible, and he had a choice to make. Now or never.

«Well, you are part of me too, and I can't let you die either.» he hoped to sound at least as resolute as Oswald had sounded. Oswald looked destabilized by that confession.

«Ed... I'm going. You can't stop me.» he said, but he sounded hesitant, as if he had been trying to read the true meaning behind Ed's words and find his true intentions.

«I know.» Ed sighed.

«I have to let you go.» he added. Oswald hesitated, then nodded resignedly.

He looked so sad, Ed could hardly bear to see him like that. He knew what he had to do, and he braced himself. He took a step forward.

Oswald saw Ed step closer to him and he looked up, cursing himself for showing far more hope in his eyes than he had meant to, and more than the situation warranted anyway, probably. If this was it, he couldn't stand to leave things like this, to leave things unsaid. He only now realized he hadn't said it back. Nor properly, not deliberately. I was only fair, Ed needed to hear it from him. He deserved at least that. He didn't blame him for deciding to leave. Ed had spent months building that submarine, basically single-handedly, he deserved the chance to use it, to get a chance at a better life than Gotham had to offer. Or than _he_ had to offer – he admitted sadly to himself.

«But I-»

«Ed, I-»

They both begun at the same time, then stopped. Stared at each other for a moment.

«Oswald,-» Ed tried to begin again, but Oswald raised his hand in front of him, prompting him to stop again, and he begun, talking over him instead, before he could get the chance to continue.

«I love you too.»

Edward stared back at him. Oswald's hand hanged for a moment longer in between them, then he clearly must have felt awkward about it and he gently and kind of awkwardly patted Ed's chest with it, before dropping it back to his side.

Before he could do that, Edward caught it mid-movement, and raised it up again between their chests, holding it tight and forcing Oswald to look at him in the eyes again.

«I was going to say. You said we are meant for each other. If that's true, I would be a fool to let you go.» he could tell Oswald was about to interject, so he raised his other hand in front of his face with only his index finger up, «But!» he paused, making sure Oswald knew he wasn't finished talking. «Like I said I have no choice, but to let you go. That being said, nothing is stopping me from following you.»

He finished his sentence, and his second hand too went to wrap Oswald's.

Oswald gasped.

«You are staying?» he asked, like he couldn't believe it.

Edward forced himself to act annoyed, dramatically rolling his eyes as if Oswald's question had been redundant. It wasn't. He knew it wasn't, it was fair that he would doubt it, after all, until only a few minutes earlier he was about to live Gotham on board a submarine. His act wasn't believable, though. There was too much fondness both in his expression and in his voice for anyone to believe he actually was annoyed at Oswald.

«Of course I'm staying.»

Oswald smiled and cupped both of Ed's hands with his other hand. Then he looked down and he frowned.

«What about Edward?» he asked, pointing at the dog with his chin.

Ed rolled his eyes and sighed, and this time the feeling was one hundred percent real.

«You know, that's gonna be very confusing. Did you really have to name him after me?» he asked. He still refused to let go of Oswald's hands, but Oswald was still holding his too. The other shrugged defensively.

«You weren't around back then. It was less confusing when there was only one Edward.»

He sounded so genuinely convinced of his argument, in the earnestness of his explanation, and yet at the end of the sentence he gave Ed a look that told him he was fucking with him, and this made Edward laugh. Oswald followed immediately after, and without a thought, Oswald let go of his hands which gave Ed the chance to wrap his arms around the other man and pull him closer. Oswald continued laughing against his shoulder, and Ed couldn't help himself and gently placed a kiss on his temple.

«I know what you are thinking, and no, he is staying. It's not a coincidence that both of the most important living beings in my life are called Edward, and I can't live without either of them.»

Oswald pulled back enough for Ed to be able to look at him in the eyes. He could tell once again that he was being serious.

«I know that was supposed to sound flattering in your mind, but you did just equate me to a simple bulldog. I'll remind you I'm the most intelligent man in Goth-»

He had tried to sound smug, but no amount of deep voices or straight spines or puffed up chests could hold up, once Oswald had grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down, connecting their lips in a kiss. He simply crumbled and gave up even trying to finish his sentence. He simply put both of his hands on the sides of Oswald's head, gently stroking his cheekbones with his thumbs.

When they pulled apart, neither of them seemed to be in any rush to say anything, let alone Edward, who had managed to forget what he had even been saying. Well, not exactly forget, like _that_ would happen. But he had definitely lost sight of why he was saying it in the first place, so he just said nothing and just smiled.

«I think we should take him with us. I refuse to leave him out here all alone.» Oswald said, resuming the discussion.

«You want to bring a dog into a war zone?»

Oswald raised both his eyebrows and shrugged.

«I'm bringing both of my Edwards with me wherever I go.»

Oswald, the cheeky little shit. Edward was about to argue, but he realized he was about to fall for it again.

«This needs to stop.» Ed said, reprimanding, but once again, way too fondly to sound anywhere near threatening.

«What needs to stop?» Oswald innocently asked, taking a step back.

«We need to find some kind of nickname for him. Eddie? You never call me that.» he paused, «Dogward? No, that's stupid... Wait, actually-»

«What if we find a nickname for you instead? Why should he be the one to change name? Seems arbitrary at best, don't you think, Human Edward?» Oswald approached Edward The Dog and grabbed his leash, then he stood there, waiting patiently for Human Edward to catch up, both figuratively in their argument, and more literally, by following him while he started to walk away.

Edward, the human one-- _dammit_. Edward frowned and started walking besides him as they left the pier – and the submarine, and all its contents, and all it signified – behind.

«We'll revisit this argument once this is all over. But _this_ , isn't over.»

Oswald thought it sounded like Ed was talking more to the dog than to him, since he had glared down at the little beast while he spoke.

Great, now he was arguing with a dog. Edward shook his head, realizing what he had just done. Edward – the four-legged one – huffed and grunted, as if in response. Ed looked almost offended, as if the dog had actually been listening and he had just answered him coherently, and quite disrespectfully too, based on Human Edward's reaction. Oswald laughed.

He let out a whole-hearted, full-on belly laugh, and he felt a little lighter, as he looked at the man he loved glaring indignantly at his dog. Maybe they were about to head into war, but what better reason to enjoy these little moments? He hadn't felt this happy in years.

Actually, both of them hadn't. Edward contemplated this same thought as he listened to that familiar laugh he loved so much. He had missed this.

Whatever the future was holding for both of them – well, _three_ of them, he supposed – he could rest easy knowing they would face it together. Now, and forever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me out of nowhere in the middle of the night and i couldn't sleep because i kept thinking about this, so as soon as i woke up the next morning i wrote this.
> 
> It turned out longer than i thought (i thought it was gonna be like, a drabble or something), but when i start writing i never stop lmao, also, i didn't intend to put that much dog-related banter, but it happened? They are so cute, i couldn't help it.
> 
> I feel like there was something else important that i meant to say in the notes but i forget. Also, did i read this enough times to be sure there are no typos? Absolutely not. Bold of you to assume i would ever notice the typos even if that were the case, so anyway, let me know if you notice so i can correct them, thanks! Hope you liked this as much as i enjoyed writing it :)


End file.
